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Your voice

Mark Twain said, “Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable.”

“Chronicle of Agony” argues that the federal government and firearms industry must do something dramatic about kids and accidental shootings. Those decisions should be about objective evaluations, not emotions.

Some statistics on kids and accidental death: For 2007-11 the CDC finds 62 average annual accidental firearm deaths for kids 1-14 years. That these figures are likely inaccurate isn't surprising; the Washington Post has an excellent Sept. 4, 2014 article on how difficult it is to get data on this.

The AP/USA TODAY writers quote data from the Gun Violence Archive, claiming that it’s nonpartisan. Check out their online archives. Nope, no objectivity there, it’s a special interest group.

More statistics: About 30 kids were killed annually by falling furniture in 2000-10. Accidental poisoning accounted for 838 deaths in 2010. As much as 20 percent of pediatric poisonings involve a grandparent’s medication (poisonings occur in the home 90 percent of the time).

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission found in 2010 that 87 kids under 5 drowned in bathtubs. Swimming pools drown most kids 4 and under. For kids under 19 there were 866 drownings in 2013; it’s the second largest cause of child mortality.

Here’s a surprise, the CDC says that the number of accidental firearms deaths of kids 14 and under has decreased 74 percent since 1996 and 28 percent since 2006. These decreases occur as gun ownership has increased. A 2016 PEW survey shows ownership at 44 percent, a 7-point increase in two years.